Ladera Ranch emphasizes volunteer service

Ladera Ranch Middle School seventh-grader Alison Galvin receives a finalist medal as she takes her seat on stage at a spelling bee in January. JEFFREY ANTENORE, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Seventh-grader Tyler Lewis-Thrush takes his turn at the podium during a school-wide spelling bee at Ladera Ranch Middle School in January. JEFFREY ANTENORE, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ladera Ranch Middle School English Chair Meredith Ritner explains the rules and answers student's questions before the start of a school spelling bee in January. JEFFREY ANTENORE, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ladera Ranch Middle School sixth-grader Jack Parise shows Principal Karen Gerhard an orange fish pillow he made in his home arts class. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ladera Ranch Middle School eighth-graders, from left, Caitlin Maxson, Aidan O'Boyle, Fabiola Lopez and Yousef Abdel work on filming a video project in the school's outdoor quad. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ladera Ranch Middle School students finish running the mile during P.E. class on the school's expansive athletic fields, which are part of Founders Park, a jointly used community park. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ladera Ranch Middle School opened in 2003 and shares its campus with a branch of the Orange County Public Library and Ladera Ranch Elementary School. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ladera Ranch Middle School's Academic Performance Index score shot up an impressive 29 points last year, to 909, the largest API score gain of any of the Register's Top 10-ranked middle schools. It was named a California Distinguished School in 2007. SCOTT MARTINDALE, THE ORANGE C0UNTY REGISTER

LADERA RANCH – Some students spend two to three days a week tutoring their peers who are struggling in class.

Others walk over to an adjacent elementary school to mentor and play games with younger children.

And about 90 children annually develop and execute an ambitious, year-long service project, earning the school's coveted Lion Pride service award.

These are just some of the activities that define the service-oriented culture of Capistrano Unified's Ladera Ranch Middle School, where more than half of students take part in volunteer endeavors each year.

"It's the personality of the kids here – everyone is nice and helpful," said 14-year-old Ryan Rozema, a Ladera eighth-grader and the school's ASB president. "It feels good to help other people."

For its successes blending a robust palate of extracurricular offerings with enviable academic accolades, Ladera Ranch Middle School has been named the No. 9 best middle school in Orange County in the Register's 2010 report on middle school quality.

Ladera's Academic Performance Index score shot up an impressive 29 points last year, to 909, the largest API score gain of any of the Register's Top 10-ranked middle schools. It was named a California Distinguished School in 2007.

"Academics are huge here; we have high expectations for our kids and they rise to it," said Principal Karen Gerhard, who has been at the school for four years.

"We track each and every kid, and we build our community around everything that's best for student learning."

Nestled in the heart of the master-planned community of Ladera Ranch east of Mission Viejo, Ladera Ranch Middle School sits opposite Ladera Ranch Elementary School and Founders Park, an expansive recreation area that serves as a community hub. Access to the school is via meandering, tree-lined roadways replete with traffic circles.

Ladera Ranch Middle School opened in 2003 and shares its campus with a branch of the Orange County Public Library. Via a city-school partnership, the school's administrative offices and library collection are housed on the first floor of the library building. At the end of the school day, the first floor is opened to the public.

Ladera's service-oriented offerings include programs that urge youths to give back to their campus through peer mentoring and mediation, welcoming new students to campus, and heading up programs like school recycling.

Ambitious students participate in the Lion Pride program, in which they commit to 30 hours of service, 15 at school and 15 in their community. They either choose to do established volunteer projects or propose their own, such as a campus beautification project.

"The students are very service-focused, and it's not just about the service hours," said parent Leith Conover of Ladera Ranch, the school's PTSA president. "They truly enjoy it. With things like the dances, the kids run it and we (the parents) are just there to support them."

The school also sends dozens of students to adjacent Ladera Ranch Elementary School to assist teachers and lead games and activities.

"I like that we get to get involved with more than schoolwork," said seventh-grader Jenna Brooks, 12, who volunteers weekly in a fourth-grade class. "It feels good to go back in time. They look up to us, and see that, 'Hey, that's where I'll be in three or four years.'"

Ladera helps ease students into middle school through the sixth-grade core, in which sixth-graders have just two teachers for four subjects – one for language arts and social studies, and a second for science and math.

The school also offers GATE classes, known as accelerated classes, in the humanities, as well as two sections of geometry. Two or three Ladera kids even go to a local high school to take trigonometry, Gerhard said.

"They want to do better, to be a somebody, not a brick in the wall," said social studies teacher Andrew Herbold, a 17-year educator. "These guys are really above the norm, and sometimes you take it for granted."

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